Lane Bryant Murders 2026 /// Part 1 | Forensic Files

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>> [music] [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks
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And you can check all that stuff out at truecrimegarage.com, and Colonel, that's enough of the
business. >> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk
some true crime. On February 2nd, 2008, a man walked into a Lane Bryant clothing store in Tinley
Park, Illinois, posing as a delivery man. He announced a hold-up and then began taking women to a back room, where they
were bound with duct tape. One of the brave ladies managed to call 911. The robbery escalated and turned very
violent. Before fleeing, he shot all six ladies. Despite police arriving on the scene
within minutes of the 911 call, the killer managed to get away. And we still have a lot of questions.
Like, was this a robbery gone very bad, or are there bigger motives at play? We first covered this case with True
Crime Garage episodes 200 and 201 back in 2018. And this week we are taking a new and
fresh look at a case that should be closed out. Police have spent millions of dollars
trying to catch this man, but still to this day, they need your help to identify him.
The public is reminded that the offender remains at large and should be considered armed and extremely
dangerous. A $100,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest of
the offender. The reward is not dependent upon conviction. Any information will be kept
confidential. The tip hotline number is 708-444-5394. You can also email your information to
lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org. This is True Crime Garage. Our true crime story this week is from a
lovely place called Tinley Park. Tinley Park is a village located in Cook County, Illinois. This is a suburb
almost an hour south of Chicago. The population as of 2020 is just under 56,000 people. Now, this horrific crime took
place back in 2008. Five women killed in one fell swoop. However, this cold-blooded murder had
every intention of killing six and maybe even more. Tinley Park, not unlike so many other wonderful cities and suburbs,
is not a place that typically sees this level of violence and homicides. In fact, just the calendar year before
these murders, that ended just 33 days before these five women were killed, Tinley Park, Illinois, in 2007,
no murders and only 15 robberies reported. Now, at the center of this case is going to be
a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. Lane Bryant, according to the company's website, is the most recognized name in
plus-size ladies clothing, and their emphasis is on fashion and fit. That is what makes them a style leader.
This particular Lane Bryant store that we are discussing today, the Tinley Park Lane Bryant, was located at the
Brookside Marketplace, which was built in 2005. This is your typical big-box clothing store for the gentlemen
out there listening that may be less familiar with Lane Bryant than the fairer gender listeners, Lane Bryant is
smaller than a Walmart or Target. It's a Kohl's-sized store. Today, the company operates
approximately 400 stores in 46 US states. This particular one, the Tinley Park Lane Bryant, was it's no longer in
existence, as many would expect. This one was a 23,000-sq-ft store. Back in 2008, Brookside
Marketplace included some storefronts that were not open yet. This making this Lane Bryant store more isolated.
The strip mall skirts a major section of Interstate 80, the Belt of America, with a Holiday Inn and a Sleep Inn
hotels quite nearby. No houses are in the immediate area, and there are a few apartment buildings about a half a mile
away. All right, Captain, let's go back to Saturday, February 2nd, 2008, which was a very cold day. The ground
was frozen. We got snow everywhere. We have 42-year-old Rhoda McFarland. She went to work on this Saturday. She's the
store manager of this Lane Bryant. This is going to be a busy day. She's preparing for a busy day as the
corporate office mailed out to their customers promoting a big clearance sale. So, she's anticipating a lot of activity
in her store on that day. What she could not anticipate, what nobody could anticipate, was what was about to happen
shortly after the business opened for the day. The Lane Bryant store opened its doors
for business at 10:00 a.m., and the crime unfolded shortly after. At 10:08, a man entered the store,
engaged a store clerk in conversation, asking and talking about a delivery. He's saying he's a delivery man. He's
there about a delivery. In his hands, carrying papers, Bogus papers, mind you. Bogus delivery
papers. This man will later be described by Tinley Park PD as a male black, possibly 29 years of
age, wearing a dark-colored jacket. Now, to be very clear, this is the description that goes out over the
police radios when the officers are responding to the scene. So, as he enters the store, one witness would
later say that the man was looking upward and around. And after the crimes, this
witness believes that he was looking toward the ceiling for security cameras. Spoiler alert, this store had
well, I'll count them for you. Zero. Zero cameras. That's the highest she's ever counted. Now, in our previous
coverage, we went deeper into information about the area, the Lane Bryant franchise, and the victims. Here,
we have six victims that were present at the time, and then of course, countless
victims beyond the walls of this Lane Bryant due to this act of just completely senseless murder. The man
chatted briefly with Rhoda McFarland, the store manager, and the surviving witness. Both of these workers.
We don't use her real name, the surviving witness, but she is called Martha to protect her identity. So, the
man spoke to both of these ladies regarding this fake delivery. Rhoda called another store location to
see if there was some type of mix-up with the delivery. During this time, two customers entered the store.
And it is at this time that police say the man then pulled out a gun, announced a hold-up.
He's now forcing the four women two employees, two customers that were in the store into the back room,
which was a small employee break room where they conducted some of the operations.
He forced the women to tape each other's hands, and then he bound the remaining women or woman himself. After binding
them, he told them to lay face down on the floor. They were bound with duct tape, hands behind their backs. Two more
women who later entered the store were also taken to this back room, bound and placed next to the others.
It has been stated and reported that the man was robbery the customers. These two customers as they came into
the store and as he's taking them to the back. So, he's he's demanding their cash.
And some reports even state that he took some of their personal belongings, jewelry, and such. Well, like you said,
black man, roughly 6 ft tall. He had a husky build. He has a gun. He has cornrowed hair.
And then he has a braid. One of the braids is like going to the right side of his face
with these little light-colored like light green-colored beads. The order in which these
customers came into the store is unknown. What is known and believed by many, especially her family and police, is
that Connie Woolfolk, she's a fighter, right, by nature. She had some point she must have had a physical altercation
with the suspect. We know this because she is found with additional injuries. So, this woman, Connie, she was known to
be very tough and a fighter. She was more banged up compared to the others. She was struck in the face, possibly
with the butt of the suspect's gun. She also had blood under her fingernails, which is believed to have
come from the suspect. After he had six bound in the back of the store, the suspect took clothing from the
store. This is several pair of panties and placed these articles over the heads of the women. This was done to blind the
victims so that they one could no longer see him or what was going on. And an attempt to further control them
and the situation at hand. At some point, the suspect said some degrading comments to one of the women and fondled
her. Mhm. Somehow, during all of this chaos, the store manager, Rhoda McFarland, managed
to call 911. This is from the cell phone using Bluetooth technology at 10:44 a.m. She managed to make the call while
the gunman was distracted, even though she was bound by tape. On the call, which is posted on the Tinley Park
police website, very brave Rhoda McFarland calls 911. You know, I originally reported she is calling
to report a robbery in progress. Of course, this is true, but truly, she is reporting a robbery in progress,
a hostage situation, and after more thought, I think she made this call out of pure
desperation. I think at this point in the situation, Captain, she can see, she can hear that
this guy is becoming more and more agitated. He's becoming more aggressive. He's getting violent.
He's becoming more and more unhinged and totally out of control. This is not going as he had planned. And if someone
was going to pay for it, it was going to be those women on the floor. The 911 emergency services officer picks
up the call. Lane Bryant. McFarland whispers to the dispatcher. Where at? the dispatcher asks. Tinley
Park. McFarland replies. She adds, "Hurry." Now, I know you, Captain, like me, we've
listened to this call dozens of times. During this call, the suspect can be heard in the background
kind of shouting at the women. Right. You do hear him some of the words So, we have
reports and descriptions by folks smarter than us as to what they think they're hearing him say, but one
part that I can clearly hear is he says, "I'm losing it." Yeah, like you said, I think she makes the call out
out of desperation, but if I'm law enforcement, and again, what information, what details do
we get from the surviving victim? Did she see the killer make contact with the customers? Did she
see whatever escalation happened between him and and the customers? Because to me, there there's a
calculated plan here. Because you have a gun, you're trying to control the situation. But to me, he has
a plan. And and I think we have maybe some evidence. I'd I'd like to know what your thoughts are. If one of these
individuals, one of the hostages, attacks you, he could have easily just shot her then
and there. But I think he didn't do that because he had an ultimate plan. And then he goes and tries to execute
that plan afterwards. So, yes, probably getting irritated as things are not going
exactly to his plan, but if this guy was just purely crazy or insane, the moment he is attacked, the
moment he is resisted, he could just kill one or all of them and and not go with a plan. Yes, it's believed that
at some point, this suspect heard either heard the phone call to 911, heard Ms. McFarland's
Bluetooth phone call, or that may have even heard the dispatcher's voice over the phone call. The police are
dispatched. A Tinley Park police officer was in an adjacent parking lot at the time of the 911 call. It is approximated
that he was about 200 yards away. So, police obviously arriving on the scene extremely quickly. And it's reported
that the first officer arrived about 2 minutes after the very, very short 911 call. The surviving witness, Martha,
stated that she heard the police sirens before the shooting started. If I'm law enforcement and I hear this account from
this witness, we have no knowledge of his plan. So, he could have just been going to bound them and tie them up and
leave. But that plan could have changed completely once he hears the sirens. And once he hears those sirens, it's
okay. And that and that moment, I I change my plan. I'm going to leave no witnesses,
and I'm going to get out of here. So, this is all going down at approximately 10:46 a.m.
And this is when all six women were shot execution style. Rhoda McFarland was the only one that
was shot in the forehead. The rest in the back of their heads. The man then walked out the front door
and disappeared. And we sit here well over more than a decade later with no clue as to who he is or where he
went. Do we have any eyewitnesses once he leaves? We do not. If there are the there's been reports of
or no reports of such. Five of these ladies were dead when police arrived and then one woman
thankfully survived. She too had been shot and left for dead, but she tricked the killer by moving her head at the
last second and was shot in the neck. She Martha then played dead until police arrived.
A black SUV as well as a black sedan were seen on video leaving the Lane Bryant parking lot at approximately
10:48 a.m. So, all of this happens within the time span of about 40 minutes from the time he arrives
to the time that he thinks everyone's dead and leaves the store and police are in route and then on the scene. So,
suspect arrives at Lane Bryant store at approximately 10:08 a.m. The call to 911
is placed at 10:44. Shots are fired at approximately 10:46 and the suspect left the scene at
approximately 10:48. The following morning, the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune led with the headline
five women slain in store. Police hunt gunmen in shooting at Tinley Park Mall. The
article reads in part, "A gunman led women into the back of a clothing store Saturday morning, killed them, then he
walked out the front door and disappeared." Police say there were no survivors at the Lane Bryant store in
a suburban strip mall along Interstate Highway 80 and what they are calling a botched robbery.
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All right, we are back. Talk hands in the air. Cheers, mates. Cheers to you, captain. This is a
case as we said in the trailer today that we have covered before and we if you wish to go back and listen to that
coverage, know that it's different than what you are hearing today if you've not
reviewed those podcasts prior. And this is also one that we've circled back to at least on one, probably several
occasions on Off the Record. Now, you heard it there just before our beer break. A much
needed beer break, I must add. The paper said that he led all of the women to the back
of the store and killed all the women and there were no survivors. Now, this is weird the way that it's reported, right?
It's very smart and they were probably told to do so or at least the information they were getting from the
police is probably saying simply, "Unfortunately, we have five women that were taken hostage. They were shot and
killed. There were no survivors." This is to protect the sole survivor. I mean, she's immediately put into
protective custody and care. She's She had to go to the hospital due to her injuries, which near fatal. I
mean, inches away from from her being killed. And she now has to be protected her her and her family.
Is this just a a sole operator that was determined to rob, maybe even prepared to kill that day,
and would do it again, would hunt her down, go after her family, or could this be something larger? Were other people
involved? Could this be gang related? So, this woman must be protected for a million reasons and some of those
reasons are she is going to be your best provider of information about who the killer
is. Right. And we don't have eyewitnesses outside of the store, but we do have camera footage of this SUV.
If that was involved in this crime, was that SUV been being driven by the killer
or was there other individuals involved? >> We never like to victim blame here. Of
course, the franchise itself, Lane Bryant, is in some ways a victim as well, but I just
I think it is a huge disservice to your employees to not value their safety and their protection.
I think I say I will say shame on you, Lane Bryant. This is 2008 in a newly developed mall, right? The
This Marketplace Mall was built in 2005. We're not dealing with something that was built in the '70s. We're we're
dealing with a newer store. We know that this Lane Bryant I believe it was open for 2 years prior to this horrible day.
You're putting up a store in 2006. You got people working there in 2008 and it's a
nice area, bad area, whatever. Put some cameras up there. I And I know there's somebody out there
listening to me going, "Nick, you're an idiot. That wouldn't have prevented that may
not have prevented these murders." Well, couple things. If the witness is correct saying that
she believed that the man was looking up the suspect was looking up and she thought perhaps after the fact he was
looking to make sure there were no security cameras. Had he been Had he spotted a
camera, who's to say he wouldn't have left? Regardless of that part of the story,
what we would have is more information about who this guy is. Well, we we probably have footage that was so
blurry that we couldn't make out It's Well, they were killed by a blob. Cuz put in surveillance cameras
and and make sure it's of decent quality. And shout out to our long-time uh sponsor and our friends over at
SimpliSafe, who do a a a hell of a job. They got some of the best equipment out there, some of the
best monitoring that you will ever find. #is a sponsor. Right. We were having this conversation
over some beers with some friends and I had said, "You know, I said, 'I'm getting some more cameras from
SimpliSafe.' And and one of our friends says, 'Well, you got a camera out front and a camera out back. How many do you
need?' And I said, 'You know what? I don't give a GD about somebody breaking into the house. If somebody If somebody
does something to me or my property, I want them caught. I I want them caught and I want them to
serve time. And I I'll put up 30 cameras if I have to. Well, and also the your killer probably came from within
side the house. Mhm. Mhm. Let that set in. So, the search, of course, they're going to do a search of
the immediate area. This is going to be very intensive with at least eight local
police department law enforcement agency departments on hand quickly descending on the shopping center and the immediate
area. They're checking vehicles. They're going door-to-door. We have multiple helicopters in the sky, at least one
with infrared technology, the whole nine yards. Now, I've seen some footage. This would be a
difficult space to conduct such a large-scale search, regardless of how many boots on
the ground you have, right? You have cars in the parking lots. You have other stores. And yes, there were some empty
stores, but you have the interstate that is nearby. And they believe that they're they're
looking for someone that they know to be armed and dangerous, right? Which is going to complicate your
search as well, because you have women and men conducting the search that may be in fear of their own lives. Yeah. I
don't I don't mean to critique >> dangerous. I mean, this guy didn't blink. He tried to execute
six women. I don't mean to critique too much, but I saw on several occasions on this footage
where they questioned the driver or passengers in a car. They look they look through the windows, open up some doors.
But I saw a couple cars get out of there and a trunk not being searched. And we don't know how this killer
entered, where he came from, uh how he got to the the shopping mall, how he got away from
the shopping mall. And I keep kind of circling back to that idea, because I don't want anybody I don't I think it
would be irresponsible for all of us to dismiss any possibility of anyone else being
involved. Right. There could be a getaway driver. There could have been a lookout. Who knows?
And we'll get more into that as we continue on. When a case isn't solved, you have to be open to many
possibilities. Stay open. >> Is there somebody else involved? Is there more than one person involved? Did
he leave by car? Did he leave by motorcycle? Did he leave by bicycle? Did he leave on foot?
We we don't know that. The victims, we have five killed, one wounded, treated at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields
and then released the following day. The survivor was released the following day
on Sunday, February 3rd. The survivor does not live in the area anymore and has not for a long time, but
does stay in constant contact with police whenever she is needed. The victims, we have Rhoda McFarland,
age 42. As said, she was the manager of the Lane Bryant store. Been there for 2 years. She was a US Air Force veteran,
worked as a nurse at Andrews Air Force Base. She also served as a pastor for a Christian center. Rhoda was
engaged over the holidays. She had just gotten engaged, Captain, over the holidays of 2007 to a man named
Stewart Gibbs. She continued to answer her Christian calling while working at Lane Bryant, often using her employee
discount to buy clothes for people who are less fortunate. As said, she's the only victim shot in
the forehead. This is believed that the killer caught her on the phone talking to 911
and that is why she was facing the killer when shot. Jenny Lynn Bishop was 34 years old of South Bend. She was
a customer. She was married to Brian Bishop and they had three young children. She graduated from Indiana
University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1996. And she had been employed at a hospital.
And she also worked in the intensive care unit. She had just celebrated her 34th
birthday just days prior and she was at the store that day using a gift card that she received from a friend or loved
one for her birthday. Her situation's a little more unique than some of the other victims, being that she
was only in the area because her husband was in the area traveling for business and she decided to go out for the day
while he was working. We also have Sarah Sofferansky. She's the youngest of the victims, just
22 years old. She was a customer that day. Unfortunately, she had just graduated
in 2007 from Northern Illinois University with a degree in finance and she had a new job and she was at that
Lane Bryant store that day shopping for work clothes. Connie Woolfolk was the woman who fought back.
She was a mortgage lender who lived with her mother and two sons, a single mother. Now, remember the housing market
in 2007 did a total tank job. So, she was riding the storm out. She took a second job stocking shelves
overnight at the SuperTarget that was in the same Tinley Park shopping center. That morning, she was treating herself
on that Saturday to some shopping at Lane Bryant to buy a new outfit. Her family said when told that
hey, she had more injuries than the others, she's got bruising that the others didn't have. She She had been beaten.
They said they weren't surprised because they said she would not have gone along
with with anything without a fight. Well, and law enforcement was able to get DNA and fingerprints. So, I'm
guessing that they got the killer's DNA through her contact with him, is what I'm guessing. Or maybe a possibly
possibly that was the way. >> The DNA they've always been a little cagey about that. We don't have 100% confirmation
that they have DNA. I believe that they do. And yes, you're absolutely right. If if
they did have as stated, it's been reported or at least rumored many times over that blood
was found under her fingernails. If the most likely of places that it it would have come from would be the suspect when
she fought back. We have Carrie Chiuso, uh age 33 of Frankfort. She was a customer as well. She was a social
worker. Her and her husband had been married for just a year and a half before she was killed. Her husband
was waiting for her to return home. She was out shopping. He sees the news report on TV and sadly, he
saw and observed her car parked in front of the store during this emergency breaking news coverage. I think one of
the misconceptions is when you hear overviews of this case and you hear that these two customers come in, I think a
lot of people assume that they knew each other or that they were shopping together.
And it doesn't seem like they were connected in any way other than just shopping at Lane Bryant at the same
time. Exactly. And we have statements from law enforcement stating we don't know what
order the customers came in. >> Well, and we know that the store opened up at 10:00 a.m.
Do we have a good understanding of what time the employees got there and was there
a staggering end process or was it just we all enter the building at 9:00? I believe it's 9:00. I don't have any hard
and fast evidence of that, but I if I had to make a wager, I would go with with roughly 9:00 as the arrival
time for at least the manager to get things opened up. Yeah, but a lot of these retail stores,
they don't open with just one employee. No, both both employees were present when the doors opened at 10:00 a.m.
>> And so, again, it wouldn't be that hard for anybody to figure out that the store opens at 10:00. We have this
killer coming in 8 minutes after opening. To me, this is another piece of evidence of
that this is not so random and actually, there was some kind of plan. I have always thought
that the intention was to get there very quickly after opening the store so that
he could take control of whatever the people inside the store, the store itself.
One thing we do know is unless he was just unable to get back to the front door, he didn't lock the door. Whether
that was just he didn't have enough time to do so or he didn't want to and that will
be a part of our theories that we will discuss later on, because unfortunately, there's so much left to question in this
case. We also have Martha, again, not her real name, was the surviving the only surviving victim. She was 33 years old.
She was just a part-time employee at the Lane Bryant store. She was shot along with the rest of the victims, but the
bullet went into her neck, missing vital organs. She was enrolled in nursing school and working two jobs at the time.
This is a Tinley Park Police Department media release titled Lane Bryant homicide investigation, and it reads,
"The Tinley Park Police Department is continuing its investigation into the murders of five women at the Lane Bryant
clothing store, which occurred late Saturday morning, February 2nd, 2008." Tinley Park Police continue to work with
the South Suburban Major Crime Task Force, the Will County Coroner's Office, and the Will County State's Attorney, as
well as several other surrounding agencies in solving this crime. As reported earlier, this incident
appears to stem from an armed robbery attempt, which may have been interrupted. As of this morning, so this
comes out February 3rd, the following day, "The five victims have been positively
identified, and we've already gone through all of their names and ages. The coroner has also determined that
each of the five victims died of gunshot wounds. At this time, we are asking that
anyone having information regarding this crime or who may have seen anything of a
suspicious nature in or around the mall located at 190 at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue
between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 2nd, to call the Tinley Park Police Department." We
should note here, Captain, later in these police request for information from the public, this time
of 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for request for information would be changed to 9:00
a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And then eventually, they would be saying anytime leading up to 11:00 a.m. You're
saying that they had a officer less than 200 yards away. So, do we have the exact
time of when they arrived at the scene? Yes, all reports state that they were on
the scene within 2 minutes of receiving the 911 call, which we we know what time
that was placed. The The only variance in reporting on that, and keep in mind, this is one case where they've been
extremely protective of the information that they have and and the information that they don't
have, frankly. The only variance in that reporting would be Some reports state that it was 2 minutes after the phone
call ended. Some reports state that it's 2 minutes from the start of the phone call. I don't think that matters either
way, as the phone the 911 call is extremely short. Ex- I mean, it's seconds long. I think what matters more
is, like you said, this eyewitness that survives saying, "Hey, I heard the police sirens before
the shooting started." Yeah. And if she heard them, there's every reason to believe that the killer
Right. >> heard them as well. [clears throat] Now, in her shock and in that situation, and I fault her
to a zero degree, because I think it would be irresponsible to to think that she's going to get everything
100% correct in a moment where she's hearing people get shot, or at least she's hearing I don't know if
she's able to see at this point. Right. But she is hearing gunshots from a very coming from a very angry man. And so, I
mean, we're talking split-second stuff here, where it it could be sirens go off, boom, boom,
boom, or it's boom, sirens, boom, boom, boom, you know. It's all happening all at the same time
in in my mind. What I think when we talk about time line here, and as far as our
suspect goes in in demanding and requesting this information from the public, is
they keep altering the start time. Hey, we want to know if anybody saw anything from this time to 11:00 a.m. or that
time to 11:00 a.m. The constant is 11:00 a.m. They Based off of this information, they seem
to believe 99% to 100% that this guy, the killer, was gone by 11:00 a.m. leaving the door open for what time he
may have came to this area, right? We know what time he walked into the store, but who's
to say he didn't [clears throat] drive around in these parking lots or walk around or, as you said, if he were on
foot or on a bicycle, I believe he would have had to have something transport him
from this location or just have been really damn good at it. I'm I'm a little surprised he didn't leave through the
back door. I mean, if he had already heard sirens, what the even if there's an emergency
alarm that's going to go off, why go all the way back through the There There must be some reason why he went
all the way back through the front door. Yeah, maybe that's where his vehicle is.
Maybe that's where Getaway driver? Right. And then also, I think these little details matter, cuz
is this a sign of Like I said, I I believe there's evidence to point to planning,
but then, how well was it planned? How well was the the facility cased by this indi- individual?
>> Well, I said it the first time we covered it, if the witness is correct in the thought
that he was looking for surveillance cameras once inside of the store, if if that is correct, that It's again,
it's a belief. But if it's correct, that tells me he's not been in the store before.
Now, he he may have knowledge of Lane Bryant and the workings of Lane Bryant. He may have knowledge of this
general area of the shopping mall, of the parking lot. He may have experience actually conducting
deliveries, but if he were to be looking for cameras, I'm guessing he's not been
in the store prior to this. Or if he's been in the store prior to this, there's been some time that has gone by, right?
That Oh, I didn't see any cameras last time I was in here. I better make sure, but that was 3 months ago, 6 months ago.
I better make sure that's still the case. Yeah, and then you wonder because he's showing up with a gun.
We don't know if he showed up with any other weapons. I believe all the items that they were bound with were found in
the store. The tape, it's been reported that the tape he brought the tape to the store with him
as well as the gun. Yeah, and then again, there's some planning, so then you go, "Well, why wasn't he wearing a
mask?" So, was the plan all along to leave no witnesses? That's a very good question.
And one that needs to be We We may only find that out If there's an arrest, yeah.
>> they find this guy. Or, better yet, where's the tipster? They We've received a lot of tips in this case.
Where's the one that's going to matter and lead to this guy? Somebody knows this guy. I'm convinced of it. Now, part
of this press release as well, they go on to say, "In addition to the cooperation of the surrounding law
enforcement agencies, Lane Bryant executives have been involved in assisting Tinley Park Police Department in this
investigation, adding that the Charming Shops Incorporated and Lane Bryant companies have announced a $50,000
reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders." I
do Let's get into a little do know and don't know. I do know that this reward was
eventually made its way all the way up to $100,000, and I believe all of that coming from
Lane Bryant companies. There There were some other reward monies involved, but I
believe Lane Bryant increased this to $100,000 at some point. What I don't know,
Captain, is, as we sit here in 2026, is that reward still available? There is a reward available,
but there's no current indicator that it's coming from Lane Bryant. The following day,
we get another Tinley Park Police Department media release. This is an update. It states, "At the time of this
incident, the suspect was described as follows." And they they are smart. They say, "However," right? They got to
inform the public. "However, he may have changed his appearance since the time of
the crime." This is the description that they gave. We're talking February 2nd here, 2 days after
the murders. See, male, black, 5'8" to 5'10" tall. Now, as the Captain had said earlier, a lot of the reports out there
have the height being 5'10" to 6' tall these days. So, I think we can't dismiss this. I think it'd be foolish to dismiss
either. So, let's go with 5'8" to 6' tall, approximately. He's a stockier guy. This report says
230 to possibly 260 lbs, yeah, 25 to 35 years of age, medium complexion, broad shoulders, clean-shaven,
wearing black jeans with writing or embroidery on them with some type of rhinestone decorations on the rear
pocket, a dark-colored jacket that hung below the waist with no writing on it, and a charcoal gray knit cap
with hair pulled back with thick braided hair cornrowed as the captain had said with a receding hairline. The suspect is
well-groomed and known to have one braid laying over the right side of his face at cheek level that had four light green
beads on the end of the braid. The braids on his head were pulled straight back.
Yeah, I think the height becomes a issue because we don't have that surveillance
footage. But we've seen in other cases like Delphi where you have footage, but you
don't have really the the proper angles and the and the proper tools to get more definitive
range of height. The next press release that we're going to get, it starts off very similar to the ones we've already
reviewed. So we'll skip over those portions of the press release, but they they spend a a couple of paragraphs
explaining that the information that they have is highly sensitive. It's evidence that needs to be
evaluated, and they want to ensure the public that any information that is important
for them will be released as the investigation progresses. So they're saying we have more information,
but it's very sensitive, and it's sensitive not only because it's evidence, but it's sensitive to the
integrity of the investigation itself. They're adding, "Our primary objectives will always be to capture
this individual and the consideration of our victims." Yeah, you also wonder too
what made one of the hostages feel that they could try to call 911. Was he singling out
another victim? Was there any kind of sexual assault? And maybe they thought as that is taking
place, I can try to make this call. So I think there's there's probably a lot of details that have not been given to
the public, and then you just wonder how how many years with nothing or is law enforcement's thoughts, "Well,
we have fingerprints, and we have DNA, so we'll just keep waiting till technology
catches up." Well, I think they can surmise some of what took place based off of physical evidence that they find
at the scene. Right. The other part of it is that you only have one living witness. That's very difficult because
as described, she's bound, she's on the floor, her head was covered at one point, may still have been covered for
the entirety of the time that she's in the back room. So her level of observance is compromised, right? At the
very least it's compromised. Now, what we do have is a report that has stood the test of time of saying that it is
believed and when I say believed, I got to believe this is coming from the witness.
It's believed that and thought that the the killer that the suspect was distracted
or as you said, like busy doing something else. And this brave woman, Rhoda, she
thought, you Again, probably at a at a desperation, it's either now or never, I can call 911 because you try to walk
in the the victim's shoes. Yeah. If you're in the victim's shoes, think about Listeners, think about this for a
second. You're face down in a back room in a large big box store. You've had a gun pointed at you, maybe
even poked with the the the barrel of this gun. You've been threatened. You don't
know what this individual's intentions are. You don't know if he's going to let you go. I think it would be natural,
captain, for for you to have a a complete change in thought and emotion, right? It I can see this being
where I'm lying there at one point going, "Okay, if I just If nobody pulls any [ __ ] this guy's just going to
leave, Right. >> and we're we're all going to be shook up, but we're we're going to we're going
to survive." And then at some point this changes, and I think it changed for Rhoda
that she goes, "I I have to call because this guy is losing it, and if if they don't get here soon, or if he does
You're probably praying that maybe even just the hearing the sirens come will be a deterrent for this
guy, and he he'll want to just up and leave and get the hell out of there. But unfortunately,
that is not what happened. Well, again, we don't know what the plan is, too, because
why is he getting more irritated? Yes, somebody attacks him, so at that moment you could go, "Well, he should be very
irritated. Somebody attacked him. He has a gun. I'm the authority. What the [ __ ]
do you think you're doing?" But once they're bound, what was causing him to lose control? Was there supposed to
be another in- individual that shows up? Was there not the the money he thought there was?
You know, what was his motivation here? And and again, we don't know what the the complete plan was. Was he going to
bound these individuals up and take money or whatever and just leave? And then the He hears the sirens and thinks,
"Oh, shit." And then just assassinates everybody? And I've thought about this a lot
because we've been doing the show for a long time. And people you go out to dinner. What do
you do? Oh, well, I do a true crime podcast. Oh, well, let me ask you this, and uh
what do you think would deter somebody? But it's every situation's different. And so as a victim, you could see
somebody coming into a bank or a retail space, and and you can then maybe assume that their motive is not
murder, but their motive is robbery. And you could probably assume the same thing in even in a house invasion.
Like the only So it's really hard to give like concrete advice of what I would do or
what I would suggest somebody to do because I do think the location of the crime
changes what I would do. This is maybe not my advice, but advice I've heard from
law enforcement time and time again. If somebody's trying to get you into a vehicle, do everything you can not to
get into that freaking vehicle. Like I said, I think the location would change because I think a lot of these
individuals' actions are all predicated on the location they're in. I think it's very this guy
was prepared to kill if he had to, but I don't think he planned to kill, and and
I can't say that with any great degree of certainty. I think that he thought that once he pulled the gun, that
everybody would just do what he said. They would become his puppets, and they would just lie there still on the
ground, and I think he kept he kept experiencing problems and and issues with that, and it I think it kept
mounting and mounting. I think he was already probably pretty stressed out before he entered the building, and that
stress level continued to grow in a very short period of time, and then now you have more people coming in. Again, we'll
get to some of this in in the theories part, but it's in this press release that we were just going
through, the the February 6th press release that the public learns for the first time where police say,
"We can now confirm reports that one of the victims was a target of sexual advances by the offender in that she was
fondled." These are their exact words. "There was no further sexual contact beyond that." And they go out of their
way to shoot down the idea that the suspect wore a red jacket. That must have been a
local rumor at the time. >> Right. They they they say it as this. "Secondly, a clearer picture of the
offender is coming to light. He is now described as having 3 to 5-in puffy cornrows that go back from the front of
his head with one strand of green beads hanging over his right cheek. He is also
described as being large-framed with weight proportionate to his height. Some reports have erroneously indicated the
subject wore a red jacket. That information is incorrect. The suspect wore a black jacket as was indicated in
the initial descriptions. I Again, not me, the report. I would like to stress this description is what the offender
looked like at the time of the crime on Saturday morning. We continue to investigate a large number of leads in
this case. We continue to request the public to call the tip line. At this time, we would like to read a
statement written by the surviving victim. Quote, "On Saturday, February 2nd, an unspeakable tragedy
occurred and five of the bravest women I have ever met were senselessly murdered
and taken from their families. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to their families and friends.
Please know that during the unfathomable events of that day, their thoughts were focused
on you and coming home. My heart aches that they were unable to do so and I am working with the authorities in any way
possible for all of the victims. I ask that the media please respect all of our families and allow us to grieve and cope
privately with the horrific crime that ripped our worlds apart. I also ask that everyone respect that neither I nor
my family can discuss the horrible events of that day. I thank everybody who has expressed
concern and ask that any person who can assist in the investigation contact the authorities immediately.
We want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage. Join us back for the next episode as we return to the
scene of the crime and we take a deeper dive into the Lane Bryant killings. Join us back here in the garage. Until
then. Be good, be kind, >> [music] >> and don't litter. >> [music] [music] >> Low carb, [music] no carb,
anti-inflammatory. There's a diet for every buzzword. At Anytime Fitness, our coaches use your body scan to help take
the guesswork out of eating right. So, you can forget the fads and stick to the science. Join Anytime Fitness today.
>> [music] [music] [music]

Lane Bryant Murders 2026 /// Part 1

Episode: 897

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

Police have spent millions of dollars trying to catch a man who on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 walked into a Lane Bryant clothing store and murdered five women in cold blood. We need your help to identify this man and locate him. We first covered this case back in 2018. The public is reminded that the offender remains at-large and should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. A $100,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest of the offender. The reward is NOT dependent upon conviction. Any information will be kept confidential. Tip Hotline (708) 444-5394 Email LaneBryant.tipline@tinleypark.org

Previous coverage - True Crime Garage episodes #200 and #201 from April of 2018

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Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the 2008 Lane Bryant murders in Tinley Park, Illinois, detailing the crime, victims, and ongoing investigation.

Key points

His & Hers: A New Mystery Series. A gripping Netflix series featuring Tessa Thompson as a journalist entangled in a murder case.
The Tinley Park Tragedy. A chilling account of a robbery gone wrong that left five women dead in 2008.
The Sole Survivor's Story. A woman survives a tragic shooting, raising questions about her safety and the killer's motives.
The Search for Answers. Law enforcement conducts an intensive search for the killer, raising concerns about safety.
Victim Profiles. The victims of the Lane Bryant shooting are remembered, each with unique stories and backgrounds.
Survivor's Heartfelt Statement. The surviving victim shares her grief and calls for respect for the families of the victims.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The closer they get to each other, the closer they get to the truth.

Describing the relationship between Anna and Detective Jack Harper.

0:22WatchJan 14, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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